Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Fancy Mac-N-Cheese
















My husband absolutely loves mac-n-cheese, and my son and I like it too. This time, I wanted to do something a little different and I found this one at The Pioneer Woman. I made a bunch of modifications including a lot less bacon and I used Sargento's 6-cheese mix instead of the specialty cheeses she used (Gruyere, Fontina, Chevre). I'm not sure this turned out "better" than our traditional mac-n-cheese where I use flour, shredded cheddar and cheese whiz, but it was a nice change of pace.


Ingredients:
4 cups macaroni
4 T butter
4 slices bacon
leftover bacon grease
1/4 cups flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup half and half
2 egg yolks, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups Sargento 6 cheese Italian blend























































































Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cook macaroni for half of the time specified on the box directions. Drain and set aside.
  • Fry bacon until slightly crispy. Place on paper towel. Once cooled, cut up into small pieces with kitchen scissors. Save grease.
  • Melt 4 T butter in a pot. Add bacon grease and flour. Whisk to combine. Cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  • Pour in milk, half-and-half and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until starts to thicken. Reduce heat to low.
  • Separate egg yolks and beat with fork. Drizzle 1/4 cup of hot milk mixture into yolks stirring constantly. Pour egg mixture into sauce and cook for another minute.
  • Add cheese and stir until melted. Add bacon and stir.
  • Taste for seasoning - add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add cooked macaroni and stir until coated.
  • Pour into baking dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sizzling and hot.

ENJOY!

4 comments:

  1. This sounds great! However, I would love your cheez whiz recipe too...lol. Is it on your blog?I'm like you, I would have used the packaged cheese blend. I just cannot justify spending that kind of money on specialty cheeses.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brandie,
    I'm so excited that you want my little recipe. It's now on the blog thanks to your encouragement :) It is such a nice and simple dish too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That looks yummy!!! We love mac and cheese. The Mitford Kitchen Reader has one of the best recipes I have ever tasted. I think it's Puny's Macaroni and Cheese.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melissa,
    Thanks for the tip! I will have to look into that.

    ReplyDelete

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